The Aftermath
by Safely Away
Summary: Everything has consequences, Katniss soon learns, and her district is paying for it dearly. Pre-Hunger Games. (Katniss and Peeta are not reaped).


_A/N This just came to me. I'm thinking maybe five chapters and updating will be irregular but I had to post this. Enjoy xx_

* * *

It is the morning of the 74th Annual Hunger Games Reaping.

Katniss is on edge as she readies her younger sister. As she braids her hair. As she brews mint tea for her to drink. For the older girl knows her name is in the ballot more times than enough. She knows that _Gale's_ name is in it, but he should be okay for his last reaping. She looks at her sister; it's her first. Gale's brother too.

They walk slowly down the path and onto the Justice Building grounds. They check in, Katniss reassures Prim that she'll be okay. Reassures herself that she'll be okay, and sends her off. She doesn't see Gale or Rory, but she sees Peeta instead. As if he feels her gaze on him, his head turns; his curls bounce as he meets her eyes and he smiles. She smiles back and turns away; he's her friend, the baker's son. She's the first to look away and ahead; silently she hopes he isn't picked.

Effie Trinket appears in all her capitol glory. She's especially decked out this year in pink furry coats and a hat made of some type of exotic feather which Katniss doesn't understand because it's the beginning of September after a long summer.

Moments later, the girl and boy are reaped. Katniss lets out the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. It isn't her. It isn't Prim. It's not Peeta or Gale or Rory.

The girl is Soren Waythers and the boy is Nevyn Maxon. Both seventeen. Both from the Seam. Katniss knows them. The Seam isn't a fairly large part of the district. She looks at them on stage as Effie closes out and knows that they won't survive.

 **xxx**

The Star Crossed Lovers of District 12, they are called.

It makes Katniss sick to her stomach. Their love affair shown for the world to see, to dote on, to judge. People talk about it in school. Peeta even sours on it when she goes to the back of the bakery to trade her game for his bread.

The two are sent into the games not a week later. It is a brutal one this year, Katniss decides. A bloodbath. And when Marvel shoots little Rue, Katniss vomits, imagining Primrose in her place. Peeta invites her over for cheese buns when his mother isn't around and together they watch Soren and Nevyn kiss in the cave. Katniss blushes and turns away but Peeta's eyes are glued to the screen. A moment later she looks up and his eyes are on her. They stay like that for a second but Katniss blurts out that she would like some water.

They miss the rest of the scene.

 **xxx**

It was a lie.

The whole thing.

The moment Soren and Nevyn realize that she drops her knife and shakes her head as Nevyn pleads with her.

"I won't do it," she cries. Blood mixes with her tears and leaves a trail on her dark skin.

"You have to," Nevyn repositions the knife in her hand and aims it at his chest when she screams.

"Wait!" She desperately reaches into her pocket and Katniss knows what they're going to do. She shields Prim's eyes.

The tributes stand there, berries in their palms. A kiss, and they turn, stretching their palms outwards as if to show the world. They count and before it touches their lips a frantic voice rings out.

"Stop!"

And for the first time in history, there are two victors of the hunger games.

 **xxx**

Extra grain, fruit, and power is distributed throughout District 12; even the Seam is compensated by some amount. Prim holds her first orange in awe and Katniss happily cuts it for her.

They come back to District 12 a month later. Capitol media lines the train station with friends and family.

When the train pulls into view, the first one to step out is Effie Trinket as she announces their return. They step out hand in hand, but they don't look triumphant. They look hollow, damaged. Katniss doesn't blame them. No one blames them.

They don't return to school after that. And Katniss doesn't see Soren for eight months.

 **xxx**

Delly is the first.

For three days, her empty desk at the front of the room does not go amiss. It is odd for anyone to miss so many days of school unless there was a grave circumstance permitting it. Like death. Then one day, there she is in her seat.

But she looks different.

Her white blouse and navy skirt uniform are matted with spots of blood. Her usually bright, bouncing, long curls are pinned back into a frizzy, dirty heap of hair. And she's lost weight. In only three days of her absence, she looks unnaturally thinner, hunched over her desk in an odd silence. Well, everything about her demeanor at the moment is odd.

Katniss is early, as she always is and excluding Delly, there are a total of eight students in class. It is enough though, for a steady stream of whispers to suffice. She takes her seat in the back of the classroom and glares daggers at anyone who looks in her direction. Delly doesn't deserve this. Katniss is sure that the blond girl is the sweetest girl in the district, well, next to…

Peeta walks in minutes after Katniss and stops dead in his tracks when he sees Delly.

The class goes silent.

"Dells?" he whispers, crouching slowly in front of her; Katniss has never seen such a sorrowful look on Peeta's face before and cannot help but frown at the sight.

"Delly what happened?" He tries again and she raises her head. Katniss stifles a gasp and looks away, busying herself by taking out her materials for class, but Peeta doesn't look away; neither do her classmates.

Delly's face has changed the most. The rounded, flushed cheeks of a happy girl has been replaced with pale protruding cheekbones, purple bags sit under her drooping eyes, and one large flaming bruise sits on her forehead.

Peeta rises and carefully takes his friend's hand, leading her outside the classroom. By the time the teacher comes in, they are still not back. She question's their absence and another girl in the class fills in for them. They come in later.

The next day, Delly isn't in class again. But this time, there are no more rumors.

 **xxx**

"Is Delly alright?" Katniss asks Peeta one afternoon as she hands him a squirrel. He doesn't flinch at the dead animal this time so it must be bad. He runs a hand through his curls and shuts the door behind him.

"She's okay," his tone is less than convincing.

"Peeta," she presses but he shakes his head. "Not here," he whispers. "Later."

She doesn't know when later will be but she obeys bidding him a farewell and watching him disappear back into the bakery.

Suddenly she looks around at the emptiness of the square and the lack of peacekeepers disturbs her for the first time in her life.

 **xxx**

Madge is the next.

She doesn't miss any days like Delly but after the weekend, the mayor's daughter is in her desk, hands folded, trembling. Her clothes have blood on them like the case before and she is twitching.

Katniss knows it's at least twenty minutes before Peeta shows up and Madge is her friend too so she braves the stares and goes up to her desk.

"Madge?" Katniss whispers, eyebrows furrowed and the blonde girl looks...straight through her.

Katniss reaches out to gently brush her friend's arm but at the suddenly contact Madge begins to cry. The olive skinned girl panics, the one time she openly gives comfort she causes pain.

Madge bursts out of her seat and sprints out of the classroom and Katniss goes back to her seat dumbfounded.

Madge doesn't return.

 **xxx**

On the walk home from school one day Prim takes Katniss' hand and clutches it hard. It's not an unwelcome gesture at all but she is thirteen now, almost as tall as her sister.

Katniss squeezes back, looking at her. "What's wrong little duck?"

Her sister's pale face is even paler than usual and her wide blue eyes filled with fear.

"Something's not right, Katniss." Her voice shakes like never before.

Katniss stops them and faces the blonde girl. "What would make you say that?"

Prim swallows. "Last week in class, there were two girls missing. Then yesterday, three more. They all showed up today, disheveled, bloody." She takes her sister's forearms and stares into her eyes.

"And Katniss," she whispers. "They're all merchant."

 **xxx**

When Katniss and Prim return home, they are shocked at what they see. In her little, old house sit five blond girls; five _merchant_ girls, Delly and Madge are not among them. Her mother comes around the corner and takes another girl when she sees her daughters.

"Hello girls," her soft voice rings out. "I need your help in here, Primrose. Katniss, please go out back and get some water." Prim is automatically dutiful and follows her mother and the foreign blond girl but it takes a moment for Katniss to register; she eventually complies.

As she leaves her home and goes around back to pump some water into a pail, she wonders why there are so many girls, so many _merchant_ girls going to see her mother. It isn't uncommon for townies to come here instead of the one near them but so many at the same time, especially with the...predicament at hand that Prim was so afraid of. And what exactly is the predicament?

"Katniss," a quiet voice calling makes her turn around and she stills.

"Soren?"

The girl's face is worried. "Is it true?"

Katniss stands, furrows her eyebrows.

Soren sighs. "About the merchant girls, is it true?" There is a tremor in her voice Katniss doesn't like. Soren and her weren't fast friends but they did grow up together. In class, sharing project responsibilities and in the lunchroom with the same hunger pangs gnawing at their stomachs.

"Um," Katniss starts carefully. "A lot of them haven't been in school, and when they come back they're different." She gestures back at her house. "My mother is trying to fix them up, I think, but-"

Soren closes her eyes, head to the ground. "It won't work."

The girl with the braid steps closer folding her arms. "What do you mean it won't work?" Her voice is firm. " _Soren_ , what are you talking-"

Soren grabs Katniss's forearms and that is when she really sees her. Her eyes are bloodshot, purple bags hanging under them like it's their job. A victor should be plumper, bulkier, but she is thinner, paler and Katniss gasps when she sees the bump that Soren is sporting.

Katniss had heard about the extravagant affair that was the Maxon wedding. It was an optional televised event but of course Katniss had mouths to feed, needs to fill, and didn't want to waste time watching something that she would surely hear buzzing around the District soon enough.

What she didn't hear about was the pregnancy.

"Katniss," Soren is a tall girl, but at that moment, she sounds so small it is almost pitiful. "This is all my fault."

"Soren, I don't understand," Katniss shakes her head.

"The berries. He's angry at us."

The berries. The Nightlock berries. The stunt they pulled to both come home alive.

Soren looks both ways before lowering her voice to an almost inaudible whisper that Katniss is sure if she wasn't a huntress she wouldn't be able to pick up. There is no one in the street save for two young boys kicking a rock a little ways over and a stray dog trotting along the forest path. No one is around.

"We defied him," she says. "He is punishing us for it."

"Who is _he_?" Katniss knows the answer before she utters it.

"President Snow."

 **xxx**

Katniss doesn't sleep that night. Soren left only a few minutes after the brief conversation claiming Nevyn would be worried if she didn't return soon.

Merchant girls came and went for the majority of the evening leaving Mrs. Everdeen and Primrose completely spent.

So a couple of days later, she takes some herbs her mother insists soothes the body and makes her way into the Victor's Village. There is no rule against going there, but of the seventeen years she has lived, Katniss can count on one hand the number of people who have visited. That number includes Ripper making trips for Haymitch.

She knocks on the Maxon's door and not a moment later Nevyn opens it, a puzzled but welcoming look on his face.

Nevyn Maxon is the type of boy that even a _merchant_ girl could bring to her mother and get a blessing. Swift and handsome, he is and if Katniss wasn't one of those types of girls, she is sure she would be swooning along with the rest of them. However, he isn't one for much talking. Talking about his personal life; it's a seam thing. This is part of the reason why she finds it odd how he willingly professed his love to the nation.

"Hello, Katniss," he slowly smiles.

"I'm here to bring Soren some tea," Katniss gets to the point. "It helps soothe and I thought it would help her in her pregnancy."

The tall boy nods once and opens the door for her to enter. She's never been inside one of these before; they are even larger than the largest houses in town, but Nevyn ushers her to where Soren is slumped over a table in the kitchen.

She looks tired again and Katniss sees Nevyn's sad facial expression as he goes over and gently rubs her back. "Someone's here to see you," he mumbles against her hair, kissing her forehead and she looks up momentarily stunned. She knows why Katniss is there.

The girl with the braid holds up the small bag. "I brought you some herbs for tea."

Soren rises, and her hands automatically go to support her back. At her own house, Katniss hadn't realized just how pregnant she really was but now, clad in a thin dress, her stomach sticks out wide and full. Nevyn helps her make her way to the shorter girl.

"I've got it," she chides at him playfully. "He's such a fuss and I still have three more months to go!" Her laugh is too loud, too high. Something isn't right.

"Come," Soren takes Katniss' hand and leads her out the back door into the yard. "Let's sit outside, it's a lovely day for spring."

Katniss follows her out and behind a large tree where three chairs hide along with a small table. Soren grimaces as she sits down and Katniss plops into her own.

"Soren, what is going on?" She jumps right to the chase.

Soren seems to be her old self again. The act weighing heavily on her shoulders. "The house is bugged."

Katniss blinks.

"President Snow bugged them all; he's always listening, so we come out here to talk."

Katniss doesn't bother to inquire on the we part of the sentence and presses on. "What is happening to the merchant girls? What is causing it?"

Soren is quiet for a moment and she eyes an ant crawling up the foot of her seat. She takes a deep breath. "This is what I know, Katniss," she begins. "I know that we made President Snow look like a fool in front of his nation. I know that we tried to make it up to him. We got married." She folds a hand on her stomach. "We got pregnant. We tried to do everything to _convince_ him of our love. But we failed."

Katniss doesn't understand. She thought they were actually in love. Was it all an act? Why? For what?

"He can't harm us, of course," Soren continues bitterly. "He can't hurt the 'star crossed lovers' and their new family." She looks at the girl in front of her. "But he can harm you."

Katniss huffs. "What does that _mean_?"

"It's a warning!" Soren snaps. Her arms tremble as she tries to collect herself and they hold on to the edge of the table. "They are punishing the district for our actions."

Silence.

"A consequence?" Katniss wonders aloud and Soren solemnly nods.

"I don't know what he plans to do, Katniss," a steady tear slips from her grey eye as she stands to her feet. "But it has begun."

As she starts to head back inside, Katniss stands frantic. "But the girls! What's happening to them?"

Soren turns around, her head dipped in shame. "When was the last time you saw a peacekeeper out at night."

And it hits Katniss.

"No," she breathes as she backs away from the yard. As she runs through town and back into the seam.

Then she hears it:

" _This is head Peacekeeper Thread speaking."_

The voice blares through the few horns in the district.

" _As of last night, from orders of the Capitol, the peacekeepers of District 12 have full control of all citizens."_

 _No no no no!_

He continues to list all of the new rules in place as Katniss darts through her neighborhood in the Seam. A new curfew. New offerings. She sees mothers taking their children inside of their rickety homes, sons helping their elderly, people bolting their doors and windows. For they all know what this means.

It is no secret that the peacekeepers or District 12 are brutal. The only reason, she believes, they are civil was because Snow gave them specific rules they had to abide by, but now that that has been lifted, there is no telling what will happen. No telling how far they will go. The girls are an example of this.

They probably picked them off on their way to school or after. Forced them to do unspeakable things. The mayor can't even do anything; Madge is a sore example of this. But why only merchant girls?

As she reaches her home, Katniss slams the door once inside and her heart drops as she sees her baby sister on the table; her mother attending to her.

 _It has begun_ she replays Soren's words in her head and the first gunfire she has heard in ten years rings out.

* * *

 _A/N Happy New Year :)_


End file.
